TOYOTA STATEMENT ON MISUSE OF REGISTERED TRADEMARK BY VOTE LEAVE. JUNE 9TH 2016.

“It has come to our attention that the Vote Leave official election communication contains Toyota’s logos and trademarks and could mislead the reader into thinking that Toyota endorses the Vote Leave campaign.

We offer no such endorsement and further we are considering a formal legal complaint at this unauthorised use of our trademarks, which infringes our rights as the owners of the Toyota brand.

Toyota does not wish to enter the campaign and we fully respect that whether to remain or to leave the European Union (EU) is for the British people to decide. So we strongly object to this unauthorised use of our brand and the use of our name in the Vote Leave campaign.

Furthermore, Toyota has already stated that “we believe continued British membership of the EU is best for our operations and their long term competitiveness”.

(The full statement released by Toyota in regards to the UK Referendum on Membership of the European Union, dated 23 February, is attached below).

Statement from Toyota in regards to the UK Referendum on Membership of the European Union, 23 February 2016.

Back in 1992, Toyota chose the UK for its first major manufacturing operations in Europe because of the open and free access to the European market, the availability of a skilled workforce, and the presence of a strong network of suppliers.

Today, we are very pleased with the performance and competitiveness of our UK operations, which are wholly integrated into our European business. We support thousands of jobs in our manufacturing operations and more widely in our supply chain and distribution network. We manufacture vehicles, engines and parts and nearly 90 per cent of our UK-built vehicles are exported.

“We respect that the UK’s future relationship with the European Union is a matter for the British people to decide, and it is not our intention to participate in the campaign,” said Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe.

“We have carefully considered the implications for our manufacturing operations, should the UK leave the European Union. We are committed to our people and investments, so we are concerned that leaving would create additional business challenges. As a result we believe continued British membership of the EU is best for our operations and their long term competitiveness.”